As background, the present invention relates to a hand-held applicator for polishing, protecting, cleaning and/or waxing surfaces which includes a container housing for holding the cleaning or polishing solution and a solution applicator pad which applies the cleaning or polishing solution to the desired surface upon actuation of a valve assembly releasing the cleaning or waxing solution from the container housing to the solution applicator pad. Moreover, the present invention provides for manual control of the amount of cleaning or polishing solution which is applied to the desired surface thereby conserving the amount of cleaning or polishing solution utilized.
One use for the present invention is the application of polish or wax to a vehicle surface. In a basic hand-held arrangement to clean or polish a vehicle surface, a sponge is dipped by hand into a pail or tub (or poured from a bottle in liquid arrangement) which includes the cleaning or polishing solution. After the solution has been applied to the solution applicator pad, the solution is applied to the vehicle surface. These manual hand waxing/polishing techniques have been found to be disadvantageous as the amount of solution applied to the applicator pad or sponge is not readily controlled. Moreover, with these hand-held cleaning and polishing techniques, the user's hand typically comes into regular contact with the cleaning and/or polishing solution which can thereby lead to extreme dryness, skin irritation and roughness of the user's hands after extended use.
It has therefore been found desirable to provide handheld washing and/or polishing applicators which eliminate the need for the user's hand to come into contact with the cleaning or polishing solution. Moreover, it has been also found desirable to provide a hand-held applicator for cleaning and/or polishing solutions which dispenses a desired amount of solution to the surface to be cleaned or polished without waste thereof.
One attempted prior solution to these problems is disclosed in the fountain cleaning device of U.S. Pat. No. 5,397,194. In that fountain cleaning device, a reservoir is compressible in the direction perpendicular to the surface to be cleaned. A one-way flow control member allows the cleaning or polishing solution contained within the reservoir to be released to a solution applicator pad upon pressure release thereof. However, it has been found that fountain cleaning devices, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,397,194, do not provide for sufficient control of the amount of cleaning or polishing solution which is applied to the cleaning or polishing surface and do not provide for the desired maneuverability of the cleaning device along the cleaning or polishing surface.
In order to aid in the maneuverability of such devices, cleaning and polishing devices containing the cleaning or polishing solution have been designed which incorporate an applicator pad in combination with a solution reservoir as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,290. In the hand polishing technique of U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,290, a washing pad is combined with a handle assembly such that the cleaning or polishing solution is applied over the vehicle body surface when a downward force is exerted on the fitted handle. However, although the cleaning and polishing device of U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,290 suggests an assembly wherein the user's hand does not come into contact with the cleaning or polishing solution, such a device does not control the flow of cleaning or polishing solution to the surface to be cleaned or polished. In addition, the cleaning or polishing agent must still be placed either on the wash surface of the polishing pad or directly on the vehicle surface body by some mechanism. Moreover, since a downward force must be applied to the washing pad to dispense the solution, in the polishing technique of U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,290, unwarranted solution may be dispensed if the user applies an unnecessary downward scrubbing force on the vehicle surface. Accordingly, it has been found desirable to provide a hand-held applicator for applying a cleaning or polishing solution to a surface wherein the solution contained in the container housing is released to a solution applicator pad upon manual pressurization of a pressure release valve extending between the container housing and the solution applicator pad.